The Project on National Security Reform shares its legacy

The Project on National Security Reform ceased operations on December 31, 2011. This website records PNSR's history and work.

The transpartisan Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) was established in 2006 to assist the nation in an urgently needed transformation of the national security system. It was a single focus think tank dedicated to modernizing the currently antiquated national security system for 21st century challenges. PNSR envisioned a collaborative, agile, and innovative syste capable of integrating all elements of national power - both vertically and horizontally - and successfully addressing security challenges based on timely, informed decisions and decisive action.

To advance its agenda, PNSR developed a broad and diverse network of public and private partners and participants with expertise and experience in traditional and nontraditional security threats and opportunities. The first phase of PNSR’s work focused on identifying problems and formulating recommendations. Subsequently, it focused on developing tools for implementation and applying its holistic principles for long-term reform to many of today’s problems. This second phase provided a deeper understanding of the intellectual and political challenges of system transformation.

The project was led by James R. Locher III, a principal architect of the Goldwater-Nichols Act that modernized the joint military system. PNSR’s Guiding Coalition, comprised of distinguished Americans with extensive service in the public and private sectors, set strategic direction for the project. A dedicated staff that included national security veterans, as well as the brightest and best new talent, worked tirelessly on its critical mission. Although the political environment was not right to implement large-scale change, PNSR had a variety of incremental successes and significantly influenced the prevailing narrative on national security reform.

James R. Locher III, President and CEO

James R. Locher III has more than 25 years of professional experience in both the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, and is executive director of the Project on National Security Reform. Locher graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1968, received an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1974, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Hampden-Sydney College in 1992.

Locher began his career in Washington as an executive trainee in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Subsequently, he served in the Executive Office of the President as executive secretary of the White House Working Group on Maritime Policy. Returning to the Pentagon, Locher worked in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Program Analysis and Evaluation. As an operations research analyst in the Mobility Forces and Naval Forces Divisions, he evaluated selected Navy and Marine Corps programs.

In 1978, Locher joined the Senate Committee on Armed Services as a professional staff member. Initially, he served as the senior adviser on international security affairs and force projection programs. In 1985, the committee assigned Locher responsibility for strategy and organization. He directed the bipartisan staff effort that resulted in the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 and served as the senior staffer for the special operations and low-intensity conflict reform legislation, known as the Cohen-Nunn Amendment.

President George H. W. Bush appointed Locher to the post of assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict in October 1989. He supervised the special operations and low-intensity conflict activities of the Department of Defense, performed as the principal civilian adviser to the secretary of defense on these matters, and represented the secretary in senior subordinate groups of the National Security Council. He served as assistant secretary throughout the Bush administration and the first five months of the Clinton administration. During the latter period, Locher also served as acting under secretary of defense for policy. Upon leaving government service in June 1993, he was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the department’s highest civilian award.

Since 1993, Locher has been consulting, lecturing, and writing. He served as a senior consultant to the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces and as a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Task Force on Defense Reform and the National Security Study Group of the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. In 1999, Locher joined the board of directors of Power Medical Interventions, a medical device company. Subsequently, he was elected company secretary and later board vice chairman. In 2002, Texas A&M University Press published his book, Victory on the Potomac: The Goldwater-Nichols Act Unifies the Pentagon.

In 2003-04, Locher served as chairman of the Defense Reform Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2005, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution awarded Locher its Medal of Honor for “outstanding service to the United States.”

Contact

If you wish to reach former members of PNSR or have an interest in continuing its mission, please e-mail info@pnsr.org.